Books › A treatise on the structure and preservation of the violin and all other bow-instruments; together with an account of the most celebrated makers, and of the genuine characteristics of their instruments;, 1860 › scan 34
Scan 34
A treatise on the structure and preservation of the violin and all other bow-instruments; together with an account of the most celebrated makers, and of the genuine characteristics of their instruments;, 1860
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 12. See the scan on archive.org.
1Dürfel, of Altenburg, was one of those makers, who, without paying too great a regard to the exterior, have nevertheless turned out instruments which are excellent in point of tone. His double-basses (Violons*), which may be met with in most of the chapels, are particularly good, and maintain the first rank among those manufactured in Germany.
3The Tyrolese makers, who carried on an extensive business, have produced a great number of violins, tenors, and violoncellos, most of which, however, have been sold under fictitious names as genuine Cremonese or Steiner's. Much deceit is practised with these instruments; and as no one has hitherto given an accurate description of them, cases of this kind are still of daily occurrence. The characteristics of the genuine Italian instruments will be treated of at length in the next Chapter.
5back not being made of such finely-figured maple, and the wood of the belly (from the upper Hercynian forest) not being quite equal in the grain. Most of them have, from the middle joint, an inch or an inch and a half of fine-grained wood; then about an inch of coarse: and so on, alternately, for the breadth of the belly. The rise of the back and belly, and the form of the f-holes, are very well imitated; but the edges are broader than those of Straduarius, and the purfling is set farther inwards. The scooping out, to the depth of nearly half the thickness of the edges, which is observable in the Italian instruments [within the purfling] is entirely wanting in those of Schmidt; who, also, has everywhere preserved an equal height for the sides, which, in the Cremonese models, gradually diminish one-eighth of an inch in approaching the neck. The scroll is not so deep, nor so finely carved; and lastly, instead of the excellent amber varnish used by the Italians, Schmidt has covered his instruments with spirit varnish, or merely polished them."—Tr.
7* No "discrepancy on the part of the author" occurs here, as some have imagined, the word Violon signifying, in German, a double-bass; not a violin, as has been supposed.—Tr.
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